Replacing Compaq V5000us' CPU

Sep 15, 2008
• notebook and disassembly

Well, this notebook is quite old due to rapidly changing of semiconductor's world. It's equipped with a budget CPU and few of RAMs. Sometimes, it's just not quite good enough for everyday usage. However, it's still in a great shape; why we have to buy a new one while upgrading some components can extend its life for at least a few years. Yes, I know that this days you have choices of budget notebook for less than $400, not including popular netbooks though since that's not in the same category or target.

How about spending about $75 and getting a decent performance from your old laptop sound to you? It's good, isn't it?

This time, it's time of Compaq Presario V5000, 2004-2005 model, packing with AMD Sempron and 512 MB of DDR-333 RAM. To boost the performance, we have to max these 2 main factors. For RAM, it might be a bit hard to get a good deal since this is DDR-333, not currently DDR2. But you will be able to grab 1GB stick for around $30 with a bit efforts. For CPU, in this case, the only choice you have is upgrading to Turion64 series, at the time I'm writing, I can find a deal for AMD Turion MT-37 for $45 on eBay.

Note: MT uses lower power than ML and DDR-400 is fully backward compatible, it just ran at lower frequency here, but possibly better timing than normal DDR-333

Now it's time for finding these two. Remember, finding old stuffs, eBay and Google are your very good friends. For me, I already have a spare Turion MT-37, so let's begin.

"Most of budget notebook doesn't require any knowledge to take them apart, besides unscrewing. So, turn it around and take them all out! -- just keep them in a good place. They are tiny and very prone to be missing. Also, you have to know that notebook doesn't build to be modified really, so don't rush doing all these steps. Although it looks fragile, it's quite tough with little care.", //1
"First thing first, take the battery out.", //2
"Then, take out all things you can.", //3
"Easy with the hard drive, once you drop it, it's gone. Such a fragile part in solid chassis. *here is another significant factor effecting the performance, but in my opinion it's not worth paying around $100 getting 7200rpm 2.5\" IDE hard drive for such a old lappy.", //4
"WLAN card", //5
"Just pull the antenna wire vertically, so we can take out this card.", //6
"We've done with easy parts.", //7
"Then, start taking screws out.", //8
"This magnetic screw driver comes in handy here.", //9
"CD drive is out as well.", //10
"Keep them in a safe place", //11
"Now, we have to flip over to the top side and get ready to disassemble it.", //12
"First, the top panel, if you find difficulty taking out, use your very thin card and try each side. Slowly and patiently--don't force it too much, you don't want to break the lock. I'm pretty sure.", //13
"Now, we can take keyboard out, unlock the cable first though.", //14
"", //15
"", //16
"Be careful with these antenna wire while you are taking things out. It could be damaged easily.", //17
"", //18
"Here it comes, CPU", //19
"Trying to take heatsink out is not that easy, nor too hard.", //20
"There is a glue around the vent + fan too.", //21
"taking out", //22
"At this point, you will be able to pop the new one in, don't forget silicone (arctic silver is recommended, but don't put too much since the older CPU package reveal core solely and spilled arctic silver is not a good idea indeed) Be sure that you wipe out the old silicone on the heat sink, it's not a good idea to leave it since when you applied this back on CPU (+new silicone) you will have a lot of spill and non-unified thermal conductivity.", //23
"After assemble it back by reversing the procedure. You will get same old brand new faster notebook. ^_^ Enjoy!" //24
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